Changing screen resolution

[Pocus]

The game runs in 1024x768, I would like to change that to something higher (my native screen resolution is 1600x1200). Does an utility or an option exists for that.

Thanks in advance.
Pocus (with the reviewer hat)

[firepowerjohan]

No, sorry. the arts were done for 1024x768. If you want to see more of the map, you can just use the zoom feature instead by either mouse wheel, +/- keys or the zoom button in the minimap.

[Pocus]

thanks for the answer

[Boar]

Speaking of changing resolution ... the first time the game ran, it asked me for "high" or "low" specs -- I chose "low" since I don't have
a 2.0 Ghz machine. However I do have a high-end graphics card and 1 gig of RAM (and can run games like Stalker with no prob), so I wanted
to reset this choice so I can use the third zoom-in level. Is there a way to do this? There's no option for it.

Thanks.

[firepowerjohan]

There is a file "settings.txt" on the game root path. You can reset the "LOW_RAM 0" there giving you that popup again to select performance.

[Boar]

Thanks! That did the trick ... only problem now is I got the "black screen of death" trying it the first time. Oddly this prob comes and goes.

Thanks for the fast answer, though!

***Later: After suffering the "black screen" twice in a row I brought up task manager and found my HP drivers had somehow
formed a bottleneck for the game -- after I ended them the splashscreens came up and the game loaded beautifully. I like the zoom
level 3, btw. Adds some color to the game. I also noticed a freeze when I tried loading up the game manual -- seems my version of
Acrobat reader is somehow the culprit (how I hate Adobe)!

Minor bugs aside, I'm really enjoying this game.

[kk68]

ORIGINAL: firepowerjohan

No, sorry. the arts were done for 1024x768. If you want to see more of the map, you can just use the zoom feature instead by either mouse wheel, +/- keys or the zoom button in the minimap.

I'm sorry but I'm not satisfied with this answer. I'm not requesting to change the arts. The art size is just fine in the windowed mode (but too big in full screen mode of my monitor). Sure, you can zoom as you said, but the game play would be MUCH better (IMHO) if the whole monitor screen could be used.

[IainMcNeil]

Sorry - you'll have to trust us that it is a huge amount of work.  

[kk68]

I'm sorry, too, for not trusting you without a hint of the problem. I'm an experienced software developer myself (using C#/.NET and not java, though) and can't think about a design where changing window sizes and some offsets would be a huge work. Changing artwork would be a big task, I agree, but no-one has requested that (there has been other requests of changing screen resolution, too, yet keeping the artwork as it is).

I want to tell you that I bought the game today and played the tutorial. I couldn't get a nice view because zooming out would have made the map too small for me, yet when the map was zoomed in I couldn't see all units in Poland front, so I had to re-arrange the view frequently. If I could have used the native 1600x1200 resolution, there would have been no need to change the viewpoint. There were some other problems in the user interface, but this was the worst by far IMO.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I sincerely believe that if you asked people how many would be willing to pay extra (50%) for getting support for more resolutions, it would more than cover the cost of work. Personally, I could pay double price now that I see how crippled the fixed resolution solution is.

[highpocrisy]

AMEN

[IainMcNeil]

You cant change the screen space without changing the UI art. If it was scaled it would also look awful. The UI is all laid out in a java app and cannot just be scaled up. We're not just making it up. Like I said - you just have to trust us!

[Lebatron]

For those using windowed mode why not just reduce your desktop resolution setting down to 1280x1024 or 1024x768 when playing the game then return to your prefered setting when your done? It's not that bad to play games on LCD's when outside the native screen resolution.

[jwarmer]

Iain,

All that kk68 asks for is to use the complete screen. The screen contains a map and other stuff around the map. What kk68 wants is to use the additional screen space to see a larger part of the map. This neans that everything, including the artwork, will keep its original size. Just display the additional hexes of the map. I want exactly the same thing.

As an experienced (Java amongst others) software developer I cannot see that this would be so hard, you only have to change the layout for some parts of the screen (that is, change the x, y coordinates of all the artwork). No artwork needs to be changed, nothing needs to be scaled in any way. Many other games allow you to use different resolutions, and technically there is little reason to design a game in such a limited and inflexible way.

For a game that comes to the market nowadays I am utterly amazed to see that any game company thinks that having one fixed resolution will do. There are so many different sizes of monitors in use that this simply ignores a very large part of the (potential) customer base. For example, I have three computers on which I could run this game: 800x600, 1280x1024 and 1900x1200. All LCD, so working in anything other than the native resolution makes no sense.

I already decided to buy this game, until I came across this forum and now I have to decide that I will not buy it for this very reason. I think you made a bad business decision and you will sell less games because of this. Most people won't bother to say this on a forum, so you will not even know this.

I hope you will support other resolutions in the future, I will surely buy the game if you do.

Regards, Jos

[Knavery]

Yeah this pisses me off. I just bought the game and found this out recently. I should have done my homework before giving more of my hard-earned cash out. 1024x768 is unforgiveable and amateurish now-a-days.

[enhorning]

Just to add my voice to the chorus.

I was seriously considering picking this game up, but if it only runs at a fixed resolution, I won't.

Playing a 1024x768 game on 1920x1080 monitor either ends up looking awful (in full-screen) or way too tiny (in windowed mode).

Perhaps it is too late for Commander: Europe at War, but I hope the developer learns from this for future games, and plan to support multiple resolutions and aspect ratios.

[Canuck_jp]

I bought this game in 2007 and I had a 1024x768 monitor at the time so I didn't mind it then but I had a hankering to reinstall the game just yesterday and I have gotten with the times and gotten a widescreen monitor-imagine my disappointment when I saw those huge black bars and silly square map. I feel totally let down. I was really looking forward to giving the new GS2.0 a run through.

[Steely Glint]

Whoever decided on the non-scalable graphics made a really terrible decision.

[GeorgePattonIII]

I was planning to buy this game during the Holiday sale this year, but I'm sure glad I came across this thread first. A fixed resolution of 1024x768 is a nonstarter for me.

I think it would be helpful if Matrix Games started listing screen resolutions as standard info on the product spec pages. It seems to me that anyone paying $30 or more for a game is gonna want to know about serious resolution limitations like this.

[Zorch]

I just bought this game; I would not have bought it had I known about the 1024 x 768 resolution.

[GeorgePattonIII]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

I just bought this game; I would not have bought it had I known about the 1024 x 768 resolution.

It may be futile, but I'd consider emailing Matrix asking for a refund; or at least a credit to your account. Maybe they'll be sympathetic.